The Colorado Avalanche visited the Nashville Predators off the back of a dominant 5-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks. Nashville has been dominant in its own right, winning its last seven games, including a big 6-1 win over the Minnesota Wild.
Hence, both teams were looking for points to help with the race toward the top of the Central Division and to simply stay in the playoff race for the Preds’ case. How did this one go down between these two division rivals?
First Period
There was an early scare for the Avs, who had Cale Makar hunched over after stopping Roman Josi on a rush into the zone. But, he would luckily return without any problem, helping lead a couple of good looks from the roaring 20’s line, specifically from Ross Colton and Miles Wood.
The bottom six overall did well creating momentum, with chances from Andrew Cogliano and Chris Wagner as well. But, they did also lead to the game’s first penalties with both Cogliano and Cody Glass earning matching cross-checking penalties after a string of strong hits.
Eventually, this gave the Preds more momentum in their favor. After Alexandar Georgiev stopped a Mark Jankowski breakaway, he would be beaten by Glass on a shot along the ice to give Nashville the lead.
But, the Predators’ lead did not last long. Thanks to a smart catch and go by Devon Toews, he drove forward a 2-on-1 with Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon, finished off by the latter of the two to get the tie heading into the room.
Second Period
Zach Parise was knocked down from behind early in the opening seconds and stayed down as if he was hurt. Rather, only his feelings were as he let out his anger on the referees for a lack of a penalty call. He would continue on just fine in what was a very even period more than halfway through.
Eventually, the Preds would build up more momentum in the latter half as they did in the first period. They took advantage of an ailing Makar after blocking a shot, plus a Parise holding penalty. While they didn’t score when either event happened, they didn’t have to wait long.
After Georgiev denied Yakov Trenin on a mini-breakaway, the puck would find Glass in the slot again. Just as he did late in the first, he would beat the Avs netminder to take the lead for Nashville.
Colorado would get some late looks after Josi held MacKinnon. It didn’t lead to a goal, along with a breakaway from the Avs’ No. 29 which found the glove of Juuse Saros in the closing seconds. Hence, the Avalanche were looking for a way out of a hole with 20 minutes to go.
Third Period
Wagner came out of the room to hit the crossbar behind Saros with a brilliant shot. But, the bar shot went down and not on the right side of the goal line. It would swing momentum in Colorado’s favor, looking for an equalizer.
But, all it took was one mistake to kill it all. Toews took a high-sticking penalty on Michael McCarron which hurt him. It led to Ryan O’Reilly scoring against his former team on the man advantage to double the lead.
The Avs had to double down, looking for anything to try and get back into the game in the closing minutes. They couldn’t muster up much and came to their demise on the penalty kill with Tomas Novak scoring on a stretch pass by Saros to end it 4-1.
If it wasn’t over already, Nashville made sure of it. With Georgiev pulled, Glass finished off his hat-trick by putting it in the empty net, and a 5-1 final.
Yeti Takeaways
This wasn’t necessarily a “bad” game for the Avalanche. The end result doesn’t fully reflect the game – more so just the not-so-good third period. They were fine at best, with a couple of standouts. But, fine isn’t going to win hockey games on a nightly basis. This was demonstrated in this game, with the Avs just unable to kick it into higher gear. Despite winning their last game on the road against Chicago, the road woes still continue, having lost seven of their last 10 away from Ball Arena.
Some love should be given to the fourth line of the Avs, who played well. They have been doing well as a unit in the last few games and was demonstrated again in this game. But, they couldn’t muster up everything for the entire team, who failed to show up – particularly in the third period when Nashville just dominated play. There will be a what-if from this game and the fourth line in particular: What if Wagner’s crossbar shot ends up going over the right side of the red line to even it up at two?
While road wins are still hard to come by, you do have to take account of what was at stake in this game. Nashville is in the middle of a long home stand, having entered this game on a seven-game winning streak. This result now gives them eight straight wins and is beneficial for their efforts towards earning a playoff spot. Meanwhile, this puts the Avs on the back foot now two points behind both the Dallas Stars and Winnipeg Jets when they had a chance to get even with them.
Next on the Mountain
The Avs return home to face the Blackhawks for the second time in five days. Puck drop on Monday night is at 7:00 p.m. MT.